WEBVTT ORY, A KETVNEWSWATCH 7 EXCLUSIVE.REPORTER: DAVID, ROB, WILDLIFEEXPERTS CALL THEM URBAN COYOTES.BECAUSE THEY LOSE THEIR FEAR OFHUMANS AND BEING TRAPPED OHUNTED.THEY'RE NOT SURPRISED ONE SHOWEUP IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD, THEFAMILY, HOWEVER, A BIT SHOCKTO FIND THIS GUY HANGING INTHEIR YARD.CALL IT COYOTE CONUNDRUM, MATTHOWE, SUN'S COMING UP AND OPENEDTHE BLIND AND NOTICED HIM ON THEFENCE, WHAT THE HECK.REPORTER: OR A PREDATORPREDICAMEN>> HE CAME RUNNING IN OUR ROOMAND SAID HONEY WE HAVE A COYOTEHANGING FROM OUR FENCE ANDTHAT'S NOT SOMETHING I EXPECTEDTO HEAR FIRST THING IN THEMORNING.REPORTER: WHATEVER YOU CALL IT.>> I THOUGHT IT WAS KINDA CRAZYAND WEIRD. THERE HAD NEVER BEEN A COYOTESTUCK THERE.REPORTER: THE CALL OF THE WILDCOMES A LITTLE TOO CLOSE TO THECOMFORT OF THE HOWE'S HOME.>> I COULDN'T HELP BUT FEELSORRY FOR HIM, HELPLESS HANGINGTHERE BUT AT THE SAME TIME IF HEIS A DANGER TO HUMANS YOU GOTTDO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO.REPORTER: SARPY COUNTY SHERIFF'SDEPUTIES AND THE ANIMAL CONTROLOFFICER DIDN'T HAVE TO RESORT TOPUTTING HIM DOWN.THE COYOTE MANAGED TO GET HISLEGS STUCK DEEP IN BETWEEN THEBOARDS HE COULD ONLY MOVE HISHEAD.THEY FREED HIM BY BREAKING APICKET ON THE FENCE.>> ONCE HE KNEW WE WEREN'T THERETO HURT HIM, HE JUST LAID DOWN.HE WAS EXHAUSTED, JUSTEXHAUSTED.REPORTER: NEBRASKA WILDLIFE ANDREHAB IS TAKING CARE OF THECOYOTE NOW.HE'S RECOVERING FROM THE SHOCKOF BEING STUCK, NO ONE KNOWS FORHOW LONG.THERE ARE BITE MARKS ALL OVERTHE FENCE.THE HOWE FAMILY TURNED THE HAIRYSITUATION INTO A LEARNING LESSONFOR THEIR LITTLE GIRLS. >> WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU SEE ACOYOTE IN YOUR BACKYARD?>> RUN, RUN, RUN BACK INSIDE.REPORTER: WHY?>> CUZ HE'S DANGEROUS.REPORTER: THE HOWE'S HAPPY TOHAVE ANSWERED THIS COYOTE'S CALLFOR HELPNEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS OFFICERSTELL ME AS COYOTES AND WILDLIFEMOVES CLOSER TO THE CITY, THEYURGE PEOPLE TO PROTECT THEIRPETS.DON'T LEAVE THEM OUTSIDEUNATTENDED AT NIGHT, DAWN ANDDUSK.THEY SAY GENERALLY COYOTES DON'TATTACK HUMANS.I'M TOLD THE SARPY COUNTY COYOTEWILL EVENTUALLY BE RETURNED TO

Family discovers coyote stuck on their backyard fence

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Updated: 11:10 AM EST Mar 10, 2017

SARPY COUNTY, Neb. —

The coyote conundrum started Wednesday morning around 7, when Matt Howe opened his blinds to let the sun shine in his kitchen.

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"I noticed him on the fence and said, 'What the heck?' I thought it was a dog," Matt Howe said. "A little closer look and saw it was a coyote."

He told his wife who was in the bedroom feeding their two-week-old son.

"He said, 'Honey we have a coyote hanging from our fence' and that's not something I expected to hear first thing in the morning," Becky Howe said. "It was pretty shocking."

They called 911 and a few Sarpy County Sheriff's deputies arrived and they called the Nebraska Humane Society animal control. The coyote managed to get his legs and paws stuck deep in between the pickets on the fence. He could only move his head. There are bite marks on the fence.

"They tried to lift him and he didn't come off the fence," Matt Howe explained. "One of the officers broke the picket and he was free. We got him down and he just collapsed from being exhausted. He was probably there most of the night."

The Nebraska Humane Society turned him over to Nebraska Wildlife and Rehab. Volunteers are taking care of the coyote. "He was in shock and experienced a high stress environment," said Laura Stastny, executive director of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, Inc.

No one knows for sure how long the coyote hung on the fence. There are bite marks on the fence. Stastny said there has been "a sharp increase of coyote sightings in Douglas and Sarpy counties the past five years."

As a mother, Becky Howe said it concerns her. "It's not something I've ever been worried about here," Howe said. "We are surrounded by houses and the interstate and Harrison. It's never something I've really considered to be a problem."

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officers have some advice as pets have come up missing. They suggest you keep your pet confined to your yard. Stay with small pets while outside and pick them up if you see a threat. Avoid letting pets out at night, dawn and dusk unattended. They say urban coyotes lose their fear of humans and fear of being trapped and hunted. Coyotes generally feed on rabbits, rodents, fruits and insects.

Stastny said this coyote will recover and eventually be returned to the wild.

The Howes are glad the coyote is OK, but Matt Howe said, "I'm glad he's OK, that being said I know some friends who would have liked his pelt, too."